We all know who Michael Jackson is. We all think of him when we hear the words "King of Pop". It is widely known, for sure, that the name Michael Jackson is linked to this grand title, and vice versa. Everywhere you go, in every corner of the Earth, you will find people knowing who you are referring to, if you either decide to call him by his name or his title. But why and how did it happen? For what reasons did the entire world suddenly agree to call this musical artist "The King of Pop"?

There are many aspects to why his title is undisputed, since it is a matter of facts mixed with personal views. I have gathered – both major and minor – details from the professional life of Michael Jackson, that all contribute reasons, and finally an answer to why he is seen worldwide as the king of popular music.

I think it is important to learn about "the greats" – people who have dramatically changed and influenced an era to become immortalized in human history. Michael Jackson is one of these people, and should therefore be cherished. No other musical artist has reached as far as he did.

Other than being announced as The Most Successful Entertainer Of All Time by Guinness World Records, he was also a humanitarian, who cared deeply for the world. Not only did he donate a mind-boggling amount of money to charities in his lifetime; he put a lot of his time to interact with disadvantaged children all around the world, as well.

The questions I will base my work on are following:

1) Why is Michael Jackson called "The King of Pop"?

2) For what reasons was Michael Jackson a humanitarian?

2. Objective and hypothesis

I believe Michael Jackson must have been a loveable artist, and had an extraordinary impact on the entertainment business, to be accepted by everyone as "The King of Pop". I believe he was, in fact, the most influential artist ever, since he is seen as the best in the business by many of today's artists and dancers. I do not know any other musical artist that has been able to create that much hysteria and appreciation, for as long time as four decades. without falling from the very top of the industry.

As a humanitarian, I know he has released many songs about making the world a better place, and acted in different ways to accomplish it. I am sure that he must have been a loveable persona, as well as an artist, to earn the title "The King of Pop", since it is a matter of respect on various levels.

In order to find out the reasons for his undisputed title and to learn about his humanitarian work, I will read articles and books, watch videos and discover what people who knew him personally has to say.

3. Used theories and methods

To find valuable information in order to answer the questions I based my work on, I used the Internet and three books (one of them was Michael Jackson's autobiography, Moonwalk). Videos on YouTube were valuable, as well.

My theories on how the information was going to be, was true. He was, indeed, the most influential artist ever, and his humanitarian work was as equally grand as inspirational. I think what people who knew him personally had to say, was valuable, since Michael Jackson was not a very public figure – he liked his privacy, so he rarely gave interviews, and such things.

4. Disposition

My idea for how I was going to expose the essay, and answer my first question I based my work on, I decided that every subtitle under "Description and analysis" described one contributing factor for Michael Jackson being "The King of Pop". It was because of Elizabeth Taylor's statement, his lifelong career, his inventions and innovations, and his awards and achievements.

The second question, for what reasons he was a humanitarian, I simply described general facts and some (he had done so much, so it was impossible to include them all) of his humanitarian actions. I described this under the subtitle "A humanitarian".

5. Description and analysis

5.1 Elizabeth Taylor's statement

Michael Jackson did not proclaim himself to be "The King of Pop". Elizabeth Taylor called him "The King of Pop, Rock and Soul" in 1989, at Soul Train Awards. After that, Michael Jackson became known as "The King of Pop".

In Michael's interview with Oprah, in 1993, he explained how it happened: "I did not proclaim myself to be anything. I'm happy to be alive, I'm happy to be who I am. 'King of Pop' was first said by Elizabeth Taylor on one of the award shows. [...] Then fans, all the stadiums that we played at, they'd bring banners that said 'King of Pop' and jackets that said 'King of Pop' and T-shirts that said 'King of Pop', and they chanted outside my hotel, 'King of Pop! King of Pop!', so it just became something that just, you know, that happened all around the world."

5.2 His lifelong career

Michael Jackson became the lead singer in his brothers' band at the age of five, as soon as his father, Joseph, heard him sing. He was the youngest band member in The Jackson 5, and the one who got the most attention. When they auditioned for Motown, a record company funded by Berry Gordy, Michael was nine years old. It was after this audition, which Berry Gordy described himself to be shocked by, their career really set off. They were welcomed into the Motown family and had a song-writing team put together for them. The Jackson 5 was the only group in history to ever have their first four singles to go number one on the charts ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There"). Releasing a succession of four albums in one year, The Jackson 5 had replaced The Supremes as Motown's best selling group. They continued their success with singles such as "Mama's Pearl", "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Sugar Daddy", giving them a total of seven top ten singles within a two-year period.

This was the beginning of a lifelong career. He was fifty when he passed away and five when he started in the show-business; he gave forty-five years of his life entertaining the world with his talent, until the very end rehearsing for the This Is It concerts.

Together with Jackson 5, Michael released twelve albums. They are called Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969), ABC (1970). Third Album (1970), The Jackson 5 Christmas Album (1970), Maybe Tomorrow (1971), Goin' Back To Indiana (1971), Lookin' Through The Windows (1972), Skywriter (1973), The Jackson 5 In Japan (1973), Get It Together (1973), Dancing Machine (1974) and Moving Violation (1975). They also toured, both nationally and internationally, ten times – one tour for almost every album.

During this period of time, there was, in fact, a thing called "Jacksonmania". The Jackson 5 signed with another record company in 1975: Epic Records. They had to start calling themselves The Jacksons, since their former name belonged to Motown. At Motown, Michael was not allowed to decied anything concerning his artistry – it was the grown-ups who told him what songs to sing and how to sing them. Now, at Epic Records, the brothers got the chance to experiment, and were allowed full creative control on their recordings.

The Jacksons released six albums before Michael, in 1984, officially left his brothers' band and became solely a solo artist. Their albums are called: The Jacksons (1976), Goin' Places (1977), Triumph (1980), The Jacksons Live! (1981) and Victory (1984). They also went on five tours as The Jacksons.

On his own, as a solo artist, Michael released eleven albums throughout his life. While he was signed to Motown, he released four solo albums, which are called Got To Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael (1975). During the filming of his movie The Wiz (1978), he met the producer Quincy Jones, and they ended up making three albums together – Off The Wall in 1979, Thriller in 1982, Bad in 1987 – a collaboration that changed pop forever. In 1991, Michael released the album Dangerous, then HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 in 1995, Blood On the Dance Floor in 1997 and Invincible in 2001. He went on three tours: Bad World Tour (1987-1989), Dangerous World Tour (1992-1993) and HIStory World Tour (1996-1997).

In 2009, Michael announced he would perform a seris of fifty concerts, held at the O2 Arena in London. The cancelled shows, the record-breaking ticket sales and the potential for a world tour, made Jackson's shows "the greatest concert[s] that never happened", due to his passing in June the same year.

5.3 An inventor and innovator

Along with two co-inventors, Michael Jackson patented the anti-gravity shoes in 1993. The abstract reads: "A system for allowing shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectably through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer's foot forward, thereby engaging with the hitch member." This lean had people in awe when he, in the video for "Smooth Criminal" (1988), showed it for the first time.

The crotch-grab was also invented by him into a dance move. It was impactful, as it was widely copied.

As an innovator, he did many things that were never done or seen before. He revolutionized an art form with his music videos – with the start of "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", in 1983. Before Michael Jackson, most artists just fronted bands or sang in settings. Michael added storylines, cameo appearances by well known personalities, special effects and production numbers. After Michael, music videos were not just for music anymore. They became mini-movie musicals.

It is very popular to do a synchronized group dance in today's music videos – and Michael is the one who also made it a whole new art form. About this, Marcus Miller, a famous composer and producer, said: "Watching Michael Jackson was like taking a history lesson and a lesson on the future at the same time. If that weren't enough, Michael then went and single-handedly revolutionized music videos. It's amazing that today, some twenty-five years later, everyone who makes a pop music video still feels obligated to include a 'group dance' sequence like the one Michael pioneered in 'Beat It'. That's how influential and ahead of the time he was."

"My attitude is if fashion says it's forbidden, I'm going to do it", said Michael Jackson in his autobiography. One glove, Fedora hat, white socks and black loafers, sunglassed, tape around his fingers, belts and military jackets are some of his fashion trademarks. After Thriller (1982) came out, it even became okay to wear your pants high around your ankles again.

His longtime customer, Michael Bush, said that "Michael's concept was, 'I want the fashion designers in the world, the big conglomerates, I want them to copy me. I don't want to wear what's out there. I want to push my individuality, and being that my music is me, my look should be me.'" It happened – everybody wanted the zipper-covered "Beat It"-jacket, for instance, and fashion-shows that honour his style has occurred.

Michael did not invent the moonwalk, but he did innovate it. This move was already out on the street, created by black kids in the ghetto – all Michael did was enhance it and bring it into the public. It is the same thing with the robot dance, which Michael also made popular, while performing on Soul Train in 1973. Other dance moves that are linked to him, apart from the anti-gravity lean, the crotch-grab, the moonwalk and the robot dance, are the toe stand, the leg kick, the foot shuffle, the spin, and the pelvic thrust, for example. He is famous for his hand gestures, as well, in dancing.

Michael Jackson was also an innovator in terms of using the wind/smoke channel, the cherry picker and projected silhouette into his performance. He also virtually redefined the concept of the modern pop star.

5.4 Awards and achievements

Michael Jackson has sold more than 750 million records worldwide. He had 47 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. He won 13 Grammy Awards, was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of The Jackson 5 and as a solo artist) and received the American Music Awards' Artist of the Century Awards. In 1988, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award, which has later been renamed after him (calling it the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), and in 1993, he received the Grammy Legend Award. The Guinness Book of World Records cites the singer as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.

No other musical artist has won as many awards as Michael Jackson – more than 739 awards won in his lifetime. He has won 26 American Music Awards, 89 Billboard Awards, 75 MTV Awards, 100 RIAA Awards, 18 World Music Awards and 39 Guinness World Records, to name a few.

Thriller (1982) has sold over 104.000.000 copies, making it the biggest-selling studio album in history. It sold one million copies per week at its peek. It spent 37 weeks at the top of the Billboard albums chart, and it remained in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart for a full year. The album won a record-breaking 8 Grammy Awards in 1984. Seven songs – out of a total track of nine – reached the top ten Billboard singles chart, including "Billie Jean" and "Beat It". The same year, Michael won 8 American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards. Thriller was recognised as the world's best selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bad (1987) is the fifth best selling album, and Dangerous (1991) is the thirteenth. HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 (1995) and Off The Wall (1979) are also two of the best selling albums in history. His final studio album, Invincible (2001), reached the number one Billboard spot and remained on the chart for twenty-eight weeks.

Before Michael Jackson, MTV did not embrace black pop music. In 1983, that stopped being an option when "Billie Jean" was released, along with "Beat It" and "Thriller". "Billie Jean" was the first music video made by a black artist that aired regularly by the channel. At the height of its popularity, MTV ran the 14-minute long "Thriller" video twice an hour to meet demand. Michael Jackson was a pioneer in the black culture when he broke barriers by appearing on MTV, and by breaking sales records with Thriller.

The music video for "Thriller" has been voted as the most influential pop music video of all time, and Guinness World Records listed it in 2006 as the "most successful music video". It is also the biggest selling video to be released by an artist. In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receieve this honour, for being "culturally historically or aesthetically" significant. The Registry also titled "Thriller" as "the most famous music video of all time".

Some of the Guinness World Records Michael Jackson holds are Most Successful Concert Series and Largest Attendance of Audience for Bad World Tour, Largest Entertainment Contract Ever ($890 million), Most Successful Entertainer Of All Time, Youngest Vocalist To Top The US Singles Chart (aged eleven), Most Grammy Awards Won In A Single Year By A Person, Highest Paid Entertainer Of All Time and Most Weeks At The Top Of The US Album Charts (37 weeks for Thriller). By the end of the 1980s, Michael had more number one singles than any other artist for the decade. As a solo artist, thirteen of his singles went to number one – and an additional four songs by The Jackson 5 also topped the chart.

In 1993, Michael Jackson performed at the Super Bowl XXVII. It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures actually increased during the half-time show. This performance is still considered as the most watched television broadcasts in American television history. The viewership was 133.4 million viewers watching, and Michael Jackson ended up in Guinness Book of World Records for Greatest Audience.

5.5 A humanitarian

Michael Jackson donated over $300 million to charity in his lifetime. He was listed in the 2000 book of Guinness World Records for his support of more charities than any other entertainer or personality. He supported 39 charities through cash donations and sponsorships.

Heal The World Foundation was founded by Michael Jackson in 1992 as a charitable organization which would aid children and the environment. Its goals included providing medicine for children and fighting world hunger, drug and alcohol abuse, and children abuse. The charity organization brought underpriviliged children to his Neverland ranch to ride theme park rides the entertainer had built on the property. Heal The World Foundation gave millions of dollar to help children around the world who were threatened by war and illnesses. Through his foundation, Michael Jackson airlifted 46 tons of supplies to Sarajevo, instituted drug and alcohol abuse education and donated millions of dollars to disadvantaged children, including the full payment of a Hungarian's child's liver transplant.

He released several songs about making the world a better place, for example "Can You Feel It", "Man In The Mirror", "Earth Song", "Black Or White", "We Are The World", "Heal The World" and "History". He visited many orphanages and hospitals around the world, to visit with children, bringing gifts and trying to make their conditions better.

During the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984, Michael suffered third-degree burns on his scalps. A pyrotechnics accident set his hair on fire. Michael sued PepsiCo and settled out of court for $1.5 million. The settlement was donated to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, where Michael received treatment for his burns. Using the money donated by Michael, Brotman was able to get the best available technology for treating burn victims. The burn ward at the hospital was later named the "Michael Jackson Burn Center" to honour Michael and his contribution.

Michael Jackson was invited to the White House in 1984, where he received a Special Achievement Award for his support of drug and alcohol abuse charities. Michael donated the use of his song "Beat It" to a national advertising campaign against drinking whilst driving. The award was presented by President Ronald Reagan.

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote the charity single "We Are The World" in 1985. Both artist were among the 39 musicians who recorded the song. The single was released around the world to help the needy in Africa and the U.S. Almost 20 million copies of "We Are The World" were sold, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. The project raised millions for famine relief.

Michael started the Dangerous World Tour on June 27, 1992 and completed it on November 11, 1992, after entertaining 3.5 million people at 67 concerts. All of Michael's profits from the concerts were donated to the Heal The World Foundation. He donated 100 percent of the profits from his single "Man In The Mirror" to charity, and the same goes with his profits from Victory Tour. He also donated hundreds of tickets to shows in all of his solo tours to unpriviliged children.

"Michael spent a third of a billion dollars on helping children, paying for surgeries, building hospital wings, orphanages, a burn center and on and on and on. The good things he did he would never talk about them. You'd always have to hear it from people who were around him because Michael always thought if you did a charitable act and then you talked about it or bragged about it or something, all of the good you're trying to do, that it negated all of that. So he would never talk about those things", said the American painter, David Nordahl.

6. Conclusions

Michael Jackson stayed on the top of the music industry throughout his whole life, since the age of ten, and never came down. This really proves how loved he was as an artist. He sold out, after all, 50 concerts in an instance the same year he passed away. To make it even grander, it is worth mentioning that all those concerts would be performed in the same city – people from all over the world was coming to see him. At the age of 50, he would perform 50 concerts, and the tickets were outsold within only a few hours. Wow, is all I have to say, really! I do not know any other musical artist has been able to stay that popular for over four decades. His music catalogue is amazing, as well; he has released so many songs in his life.

I believe that the fact Michael was an artist since he was five years old, is a contributing factor for him being "The King of Pop". If you think about the multiple, great moments that he gave the public, with his music, for such a long period of time, while knowing he was an artist at a very young age, it makes you feel like he was born to create music and be an entertainer. It makes him worthier of the title.

Everyone wanted to dance like Michael Jackson. Music might have made him a star, but from the sensuality of the crotch-grab, to the laser-sharp spins, snaps, heel pivots and rotating slide, to the mesmerizing 'group dance' sequences in his music videos, to, of course, the otherwordly impossibility that was his moonwalk (and the anti-gravity lean), dance launched Michael into the stratosphere. When the world watched him walking forward, but moving backwards in his black loafers with a liquid smoothness during the 25th anniversary of Motown in 1983, no one had ever seen anything like it.

He knew that his dance would be enhanced if he dressed right; he outfitted himself to show off his moves. Black shoes with white, glittering sock – he knew no one could ignore feet turned out like that. He wore pants that were "too short" to emphasise movements on his legs. He wore tape on his fingers (though some say it all started because he wanted to cover his skin disease) to give an illusion of extension. He wore big belt buckles to bring attention to his hips. He liked sequenced clothing and clothing with lots of zips and buckles, so each movement he made would make a noise. In conclusion, the man was a genius – hands down!

The world has not seen anything like the success of an album since Thriller. I have read that Michael Jackson would often write notes to himself, scribble down a goal for his album on his mirror, so he would see it everyday as a reminder. He would then work and strategize toward actualizing his goal. He strived to be the best in his field. For example, before Thriller, he had the intention to create the best-selling album of all time. He was a visionary and specifik in his ambition. "Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of", said Berry Gordy, and I believe that to be very true.

The fact that Thriller alone helped pave the way for racial diversity on MTV, is spectacular. This proves how much music influence people, when great art crash down barriers. Thriller really changed everything, because all of the sudden, for the first time ever, music did not have a colour. He was too good to be put in any box.

That kind of impact on popular culture, Michael Jackson had – we have never seen anything like it. There was no blueprint for his level of success; there was no one before him that reached that level of success. Everywhere you go, people will know who Michael Jackson was. He is the most famous person in the world.

I believe the Pepsi-incident in 1984, was the starting shot for Michael Jackson to go into the direction to help others through charity. He had been interested in making the world a better place long before, but he became very charity-minded after that. The fact that he donated over $300 million to charity in his lifetime is a lot – even for a successful artist, who was very wealthy. No other entertainer or personality has been that generous with their money. It is sensational that he toured for years, and then donated all the profits he earned to charity! It is like you need to say no more about him as a humanitarian than that. But at the same time, I think the fact that he travelled around the world to visit disadvantaged children at hospitals and orphanages, and that he opened up his own home for children to come and play at the amusement park for free, outshines the amount of money he donated to charity, because you understand how kind he was on a personal level.

Because of the fact that the press feels like only negative news sell, Michael Jackson has never got the credit he deserved for his humanitarian work. I think this is beyond saddening. He never did all of those good things to show off in the spotlight, no, he did it because he truly cared. I think it is saddening that this man poured his heart out in so many ways, and the world returned so little when he was still alive. Now, the world praised him – even the press – but he is not here to see it. Why is it that someone needs to disappear in order to have the appreciation they deserved?

Madonna's speech at the Video Music Awards in 2009 brought this up, which I am thankful for. She said: "When I first heard that Michael Jackson had died, [...] all I could about in that moment was, ' I had abandoned him', that we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature who had once set the world on fire to somehoe slip through the cracks. While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all busy passing judgement. Most of us had turned our backs on him."

Though it ended way too soon, Michael's life was beautiful. I do not think "The King of Pop" was big enough for him. I think he is simply "The Greatest Entertainer That Has Ever Lived".